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  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Bright Lights

  Linda Chapman lives in Leicestershire with her family and two Bernese mountain dogs. She used to be a stage manager in the theatre. When she is not writing she spends her time horse riding, putting on plays and teaching drama.

  Books by Linda Chapman

  MY SECRET UNICORN series

  NOT QUITE A MERMAID series

  STARDUST series

  UNICORN SCHOOL series

  BRIGHT LIGHTS

  CENTRE STAGE

  linda chapman

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3

  (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)

  Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia

  (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)

  Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand

  (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)

  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  puffinbooks.com

  First published 2003

  5

  Text copyright © Linda Chapman, 2003

  All rights reserved

  The moral right of the author has been asserted

  Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN: 9780141925837

  To Peter – for letting me follow my dreams

  A huge thank you to all the Bright Stars in Wymeswold, especially Nicole and Hope Dawkins, Laura and Sophie Tebbutt and Michelle Emmet for giving me so many ideas about friends, sleepovers and brothers and sisters (you love them really!). Thanks too, must go to Alison at Carlton Junior TV Workshop and to Grace, Laura, Siobhan, Jack and Nicholas who gave up their time to talk to me about what it is like to be a young TV/film actor. Special thanks to Sarah Hughes at Puffin and Philippa Milnes-Smith at LAW for all their wonderful input and ideas and to Caroline Piggott for her never-ending support and friendship. Lastly, the biggest thank you of all must go to Peter and Iola – for everything.

  Chapter One

  ‘He is dead,’ I whispered.

  I knelt beside the body of the great lion. The only sound in the packed room was the occasional weeping of an overcome parent.

  Suddenly a voice called across the school lunch hall. ‘Lucy!’

  ‘Yes!’ I answered, jerking out of my daydream and almost knocking my plate of sausage and chips on to the floor. ‘Me! I'm Lucy!’

  The year-five girl looked at me in surprise before walking off with her friend, Lucy Roberts, who had been sitting at the next-door table.

  My two best friends, Ally Swannick and Harriet Chase, stared at me as if I was an escaped lunatic.

  ‘OK, Sophie,’ Ally said slowly. ‘Have you finally gone totally mad?’

  Talk about embarrassing! Nearly everyone in the lunch hall was looking at me now. I sank down in my chair, my cheeks as red as the reddest thing you can imagine. It's not that I mind being the centre of attention, it's just that I'd rather not be making a complete idiot of myself at the time!

  As usual, Harriet was the first to figure out what was going on in my mind. ‘I get it!’ she said suddenly. ‘You were thinking about the play, weren't you? You were thinking about being Lucy?’

  I risked a look round the room. Everyone had lost interest in me and the conversations were starting up again. I nodded. ‘I could just see the stage in my mind,’ I explained. ‘I was imagining the audience and what it would be like to be Lucy, so when I heard someone say, “Lucy!” I just said, “Yes.” ’

  Ally shook her head. ‘Sometimes, Sophie, you are seriously weird!’

  Rapidly recovering from my embarrassment, I sat up in my chair and grinned at her. ‘You can talk! Before she could come back with a reply, I let out a longing sigh. ‘I just want to be Lucy so much.’

  ‘You will be,’ Harriet said, her hazel eyes confident. ‘I bet you will.’

  You have no idea how much I wanted to believe her. Getting the part of Lucy was the only thing I'd been able to think about all last week – ever since our teacher, Miss Carter, had told us that the school play for the summer was going to be The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It's one of my all-time favourite books. It's about four children who go through a wardrobe and end up in a magic land called Narnia. Lucy's the youngest and the bravest. I was desperate to be her. And now there wasn't long to wait. That very afternoon Miss Carter was going to give out the parts.

  ‘I don't know what you're stressing about anyway, Soph,’ Ally said, shrugging. ‘You always get the main part whenever we do a play.’

  ‘Ally's right,’ Harriet agreed. ‘There's no way Miss Carter would choose anyone else to be Lucy. You're easily the best at acting in the class.’

  I shot them grateful looks. Ally and Harriet are the best friends ever. They might not be into acting themselves, but they understand how much it means to me. I'm not particularly brilliant at anything else – not like Harriet, who's nearly always top at everything – but I know I'm good at acting. When I leave school I want to go to drama college and become a famous actress, like Kate Winslet or Julia Roberts.

  ‘I wonder what parts we'll get,’ Harriet said to Ally as we stood up to clear away our plates.

  ‘Dunno,’ Ally said. ‘I hope I don't have too many lines to learn though.’

  She pushed her blonde hair back behind her ears. It used to be long, but last month she had it cut and now it curls under by her chin. She's really pretty, with big brown eyes and a wide smiley mouth. People always think she looks so sweet, but she loves playing jokes and she's got a real temper when she's angry.

  Harriet, on the other hand, never argues with anyone. She's very patient and quiet. People who don't know her well think she's serious, but she's actually really good fun. She's tall, with freckles and long browny-blonde hair that she usually ties back in a ponytail. We've been friends for eight years – ever since we started at our village playgroup when we were three.

  Ally's been our friend for two years. She started at our school in year four and was put on the same table as me in class. From the first day, when she handed out trick sweets to all the boys, she's always been really good fun. At first she and Harriet didn't get on – they both wanted to be my best friend. But after a bit they started horse-riding together and now they get on very well.

  As for what I look like, well, I've got very thick dark-brown shoulder-length hair, big grey-blue eyes that seem to take up my whole face and a pointed chin. I'm also the smallest girl in year six. When I was younger, my older brother, Tom, used to tease me and say I was a pixie who'd been swapped at birth. Older brothers can be so annoying!

  ‘Come on! Let's go outside,’ Harriet said as w
e dumped our plates and trays.

  We headed for our favourite place – the wall by the climbing frame. There was the usual chaos in the playground – the little ones running round, the year-five and year-six boys playing football and showing off on the climbing frame, groups of girls talking or doing gymnastics on the grass.

  ‘Uh-oh,’ Harriet said suddenly under her breath. ‘Look who's heading this way.’

  Justine Wilcox was walking towards us, holding hands with Kevin Donaghue. Justine's our least favourite girl in the class. Flicking her long blonde hair, she smiled smugly as she walked by. It was as if she thought we should all be really jealous of her for having Kevin as her boyfriend. I mean, pur-lease! I'd never go out with Kevin. In fact, I wouldn't go out with any of the boys in our class. They are so immature. If I was going to have a boyfriend, I'd want to go out with someone really nice like Dan, who is the boyfriend of my sister, Jessica. For a moment I imagined walking round the school playground with Dan – tall, dark and handsome, a bit like Freddie Prinz Junior, when Freddie Prinz Junior is looking normal, of course, not how he looks in Scooby Doo.

  ‘Sophie! Earth to Sophie!’

  I came out of my daydream with a jump as Ally waved her hand in front of my face. She grinned at me. ‘What was that goofy look at Kevin for?’

  I realized I must have been staring dreamily at Kevin as he walked past. ‘Nothing,’ I said quickly.

  Ally nudged Harriet. ‘Sophie fancies Kevin.’

  ‘I do not!’ I exclaimed.

  ‘Do so,’ Ally said triumphantly. ‘You should have seen the way you were looking at him, you –’

  ‘I was thinking about Dan!’ I interrupted.

  ‘Ohhhhh.’ Ally nodded in sudden understanding. She and Harriet thought Dan was mega-fit too.

  ‘Why can't we have boyfriends like him?’ sighed Harriet.

  ‘Umm – because we're not fourteen and we don't look like Jess,’ I suggested. My sister is seriously pretty, with long wavy hair and a figure that goes in and out in all the right places.

  ‘You are so lucky having Jessica as a sister,’ Harriet said.

  I nodded. I know I am. Lots of people I know don't get on with their sisters – Harriet and her older sister, Emily, fight all the time. But Jess is really cool. We argue sometimes, of course, but we almost never really fall out in a major way. It's almost like having another best friend.

  The school bell rang. All thoughts of Jessica and Dan left my head. ‘It's the bell!’ I gasped.

  Ally grinned. ‘Yes, Sophie – it rings every day about this time.’

  ‘But that means… that means we're going to find out the parts for the play!’ My heart raced.

  ‘And you're going to get the part of Lucy,’ Ally said, jumping off the wall and pulling me with her. ‘Come on!’

  The three of us headed towards the entrance. As we reached it, Justine Wilcox pushed in front of us. She had left Kevin and was with her friends, Saskia and Julie. They hardly even glanced at us. They think they're just so cool. Saskia and Julie didn't used to be too bad, but then Justine started in our class at the beginning of the year and since they became friends with her all they ever do is talk about make-up and clothes – I mean, how sad!

  As we waited in the queue to go inside, Justine fluffed up her hair. ‘I can't wait to hear who's got which part in the play,’ she said to Julie and Saskia. ‘I told Miss Carter yesterday that I really wanted to be Lucy. I hope she lets me.’

  I grabbed Harriet's arm. ‘Did you hear what Justine just said?’ I hissed as we started walking inside.

  ‘Don't worry,’ Harriet said reassuringly. ‘She won't get the part.’

  ‘But she's quite good at acting and you know Miss Carter likes her.’ That's the trouble with teachers: they are so easily fooled into thinking someone's sweet and nice when they don't see them out of lessons.

  Harriet squeezed my hand. ‘You're way better than Justine, Soph. You'll be Lucy. I know you will.’

  I hoped she was right.

  Miss Carter was waiting for us in the classroom. On her desk was a large pile of scripts. I swallowed. This was it: the moment I'd been waiting for.

  ‘OK, everyone, sit down,’ Miss Carter instructed.

  It seemed to take forever for everyone to settle in their chairs but at last there was quiet.

  ‘Well,’ Miss Carter said, smiling round at us, ‘I won't keep you in suspense any longer. I'm sure you're all keen to find out what part you're going to play, so here we go. The part of Lucy will be played by…’

  I caught my breath and crossed every single finger and toe.

  ‘… Justine Wilcox,’ Miss Carter announced.

  Chapter Two

  ‘Yessss!’ I heard Justine Wilcox whisper in triumph.

  ‘No!’ I gasped in horror.

  Everyone swung round in their seats to stare at me. My face blushed bright red.

  ‘Sophie?’ Miss Carter questioned. ‘Are you all right?’

  I wanted to die. Why had I spoken out loud? ‘I'm fine, Miss,’ I mumbled, looking down at my desk. From the far side of the room I could sense Justine Wilcox's ice-blue eyes looking at me and I knew, just knew, that there'd be a smirk on her face.

  Miss Carter cleared her throat and continued. ‘The part of Susan will be played by Sunita, the White Witch by Charlotte, the…’

  I'm not Lucy. I'm not Lucy. The words went round and round in my head. It felt as if I was in a nightmare. There had to be some mistake. I had to be Lucy.

  Suddenly a thought crept into my shocked brain. If I'm not Lucy, who am I going to be?

  ‘And now on to the smaller parts,’ Miss Carter said. ‘Ally, you're going to be a hedgehog. Max, you're going to be a faun. Harriet, you will be a fox, and Sophie –’ I looked up – ‘you will be the chief squirrel.’

  I felt a stab of disbelief. Chief squirrel! After all my dreams of playing Lucy! I stared at Miss Carter. How could she do this to me?

  But Miss Carter was already looking away at the next person on her list. My head swam. A squirrel! I was a measly squirrel!

  As Miss Carter finished, she handed out the scripts. ‘I'll give them to you now so you can read them through and start learning your lines, but we won't start rehearsing properly until after the SATs in a few weeks' time.’

  I took the script I was handed and looked through the pages. The chief squirrel had four lines. Four lines! I shut the script in disgust.

  ‘Now, can you put your scripts away in your drawers and get out your design projects please?’ Miss Carter said.

  There was a scraping of chairs and a buzz of excited chatter. I saw Ally and Harriet heading towards me, but before they could reach me Miss Carter stopped in front of me.

  ‘I hope you're not too upset at having a smaller part this year, Sophie,’ she said. ‘You've had a main part the last two years and I thought it might be nice to let someone else have a go. You don't mind, do you?’

  Mind? Of course I mind! I felt like shouting. But I didn't. I just shook my head and forced a smile, as if being a squirrel instead of Lucy was just fine by me.

  ‘Good,’ Miss Carter said, smiling at me. ‘I knew you'd understand.’

  ‘It's so unfair,’ I said for about the hundredth time as I walked home through the village with Ally and Harriet. They were both coming back to mine for tea. ‘I can't believe Justine is going to be Lucy and not me.’

  ‘You'd have been loads better than her,’ Harriet said loyally.

  Ally's brown eyes flashed with indignation. ‘I think it was really horrid of Miss Carter. How could she be so mean?’

  Harriet frowned. ‘Ally! You know Miss Carter wasn't trying to be mean. You heard what she said – she was only trying to let other people have the main parts for a change.’

  Harriet's my best friend ever, but sometimes I wish she wasn't always so nice about everyone!

  ‘Well, I think Miss Carter was being mean,’ Ally said. She linked arms with me. ‘Horrible Miss Carter,’ she said,
looking at me for agreement.

  The trouble was, although I wanted to agree with Ally, deep down I knew Harriet was right. I sighed. ‘Miss Carter's not horrible. I guess she wasn't trying to be nasty to me.’

  ‘And anyway, look on the bright side, Soph,’ Harriet said optimistically. ‘You won't have all those lines to learn now.’

  A deep wave of gloom engulfed me. ‘But I want lines to learn,’ I protested. ‘And now I'm not going to be in another play for ages.’ Next year we would all be at Charles Hope secondary school and there you didn't get to do a play until you were in year nine – three whole years away! ‘Oh, this is so unfair!’ I burst out again at the thought.

  We walked on in silence.

  ‘Look, there's Tom,’ Ally pointed out suddenly.

  I looked up. My older brother was sitting on the church wall with some of his friends. He ignored me. He's fifteen and although we get on just fine at home, he usually acts like I don't exist when he's outside with his mates.

  ‘How are the Blue Lemons?’ Ally asked as we turned down the lane at the side of the church that led to my house.

  I forced myself to think about something other than my disappointment. ‘OK, I think.’

  Tom had started a band called the Blue Lemons with his best friends, Nick and Raj, and Nick's cousin, Zak. They always seemed to be round at Nick's house, practising.

  Suddenly I remembered some news I'd heard the night before. ‘Tom said they're going to play at our school fair at the end of term. Nick's dad's a member of the PTA and he asked them.’

  ‘That's brilliant!’ Ally exclaimed, looking well impressed. She's very into music. ‘How come you didn't tell us sooner?’

  I shrugged. ‘It didn't seem important.’

  ‘Not important!’ Ally said, looking at me as if I was mad. ‘But just think how cool it'll be – we'll know the band!’

  Harriet and I exchanged glances and I could tell she was as excited by Tom's band playing as I was – in other words, not very. I mean, it would be quite fun, but it was just my brother and his mates.